(Uruguay manager) “I’m disappointed with some people talking about cheating. I think that is absolute rubbish. That is taking one for the team… helping one country of 3.5 million get to the semi-final”.

‘Suarez put himself in front of the whole country, and because of that Uruguay is going to the semi final.’

Taking one for the team

Putting team ahead of personal affairs

Powell (2012) Luis Suarez, role model! (The Daily Mirror, Nov 19)

‘For Rodgers, [Suarez’s dazzling displays] are an inspiration to his young side’

‘With Luis, he’s a real reference for this team, because of what he brings… He has great confidence [and commitment] and that transmits to the team’.

Inspirational

Reference for the team (setting a standard)

Cohen (2013) The BBC: It’s professional to cheat (The Spectator, Jan 20)

Savage explained how a professional sportsman thinks. He would know that he was not going to get a red card because he wouldn’t be fouling the last man. So he should, ‘bring the guy down, commit a professional foul, take a yellow card for the team. If he does that, Derby don’t score and NottinghamForest win the game. Simple as that.’ Guy from Lingfield made an even bigger fool of himself by refusing to agree with the professional. ‘No, no, I don’t think that’s a good attitude…in general for schoolchildren or other footballers, really, or for your own teammates.’

With a voice full of sneering incredulity, Savage said that his teammates would have applauded the foul (as I am sure they would). ‘It’s not cheating,’ he insisted. ‘It’s a yellow card, he takes a yellow card for the team…If you don’t like it, tough.’

Professional must do what it takes to win

Bad moral example for children

Taking one for the team

Here we see evidence of Lines (2001) suggestion that the media paints conflicting pictures of professional role models. Suarez is at once both a hero (commitment, effort, skill) and a villain (racism, biting, cheating). There is also the notion here that cheating or behaving badly can be condoned if in the service of ‘taking one for the team’, or in the interests of the greater good. This is a complex moral argument. I wonder if children and young people would be able to grasp it?

FOR MONDAY…

Based on this analysis, I think it’s now possible to refine the question and offer some ‘tentative solutions’. Please reply to this post with your ideas for new, more specific research questions. Also, for tentative solutions, look at the table above and also have a quick look at Kohlberg’s stages of moral development in children as this might tell us at what age we can expect children to become “more discerning” judges of role models, as some of the literature begins to suggest.